Kaboom
by JPsmiles
Summary: Face, Decker and an explosion...a short story.


"I've got you now, Peck! And this time you're not getting away," Decker sneered, his gun trained on Face.

Normally Face would have come back with a smart-alecky comment, but today there wasn't time to mess around. "Fine, you got me Decker. But if you don't listen to me there is going to be nothing left of either one of us to be had."

"Save your breath, Lieutenant. Crane, cuff him."

"Colonel, a bomb is set to go off in less than three minutes." Face winced as the cuffs snapped around his wrists. "We have to get out of here."

"A bomb?" Decker questioned, and then rolled his eyes in amusement.

"Yes, a bomb. As in 'kaboom'!"

"And you expect me to believe that?" Decker put his gun-free hand on his hip. "I would have thought you of all people could have come up with a better story."

"You can believe in the Tooth Fairy, for all I care…can we just get outta here? Time's ticking…literally."

"We'll get out of here when I'm good and ready," Decker shot back.

Face looked around frantically, weighing his options. They stood on a narrow dock, surrounded by water. All Face was supposed to do was set some traps for the bad guys; it was to be what Hannibal called "a piece of a cake" assignment. And it was, until he noticed the bomb. The bomb had been planted under the dock; he had seen it right before Decker and his flunky Crane had pulled him out of his boat.

He figured he had two options: jump in the water wearing handcuffs or stay on the dock that would explode in a matter of seconds. He could either drown or get blown to smithereens…but either way, Face knew he was going to die. The question was, would he take Decker with him?

Decker and Crane stood in front of Face admiring their new acquisition. They smiled smugly watching the panic stricken look on their prisoner's face. So caught up in their moment of glory, they didn't see it coming when Face rushed them both.

Face put his head down, ran, and with all his body weight sent them all into the water. The plan was for him to push Decker and Crane as far clear of the deck as possible while hopefully being able to use the momentum of his run to jump a decent distance himself. To his dismay, his foot slipped on the edge of the dock and instead of jumping, he toppled over into the water.

Seconds later the dock exploded into millions of pieces.

"Breath, Peck, damnit! Breathe!" Decker swore, as he and Crane continued CPR on the unconscious man. In between administering compressions, he watched Face's chest rise and fall as Crane breathed into his mouth. "C'mon, breathe…please just, breathe…that's an order!"

As if on cue, Face's body jerked and a stream of water came spraying out of his mouth followed by a bout of intense coughing. Decker rolled him onto his side, sharing a look of relief with his second in command.

After a few moments, Face's body seemed to relax and they carefully rolled him onto his back. "Peck, can you hear me?"

Face's eyes fluttered open slowly. "Oh no," he groaned. "I died and He sent me in the wrong direction."

Decker couldn't help but chuckle. "This isn't hell, Peck. You are very much alive."

"And so are we, thanks to you," the usually quiet Crane added.

Face moved to sit up, but didn't get far before collapsing back onto the ground. "I don't feel so good," he mumbled.

Decker patted Face's shoulder sympathetically. "You nearly drowned, Lieutenant. I'm just damned glad you're feeling anything at all." He paused, surprised at the words that had just come out of his own mouth. "Can I ask you a question, Peck? Why'd you do it? Why'd you save us?"

"Contrary to popular belief, we aren't the bad guys," Face answered. His breathing was becoming increasingly labored and he was growing tired. "What are you waiting for, Decker?"

"I'm waiting for Smith and the others to come get you." There was the sound of screeching tires and gunfire as the black van came flying down the road. Seemingly before it came to a full stop, Hannibal Smith was out the door. "I guess I won't have to wait long."

"You're letting me go? But why?"

"Contrary to popular belief, I'm not such a bad guy either."

Face's vision started to blur and the voices around him became muffled; the last thing he remembered was seeing Hannibal and Decker shaking hands.

The sound of sirens filled the air as the van careened around a corner. Hannibal was shooting out the passenger side window while Murdock was up on the roof throwing smoke bombs. The combination of the two front tires being blown out and the thick grey fog in the air sent the military vehicle spinning to a standstill.

"Guess our truce with Decker's over, man," B.A. said as Hannibal and Murdock took their seats.

"Looks like it," Hannibal agreed. With a wide smile he added, "Oh well…life would be too boring without him anyway."

B.A. rolled his eyes and muttered. "He on the jazz."

"Face nearly getting blown up bought us a couple of weeks," Murdock said looking over at the conman who was still recovering from his injuries.

"I wonder what it would take to get a whole month?" Hannibal pondered. "Face…"

"Don't even think about it, Hannibal. I'm not going to find out for you."

"I just wanted a cigar, kid."

Face smiled sheepishly. "Oh…yeah…sorry."

"But now that you mention it…"

The other three exclaimed in chorus, "Hannibal!"

The End


End file.
